These Professors - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Those Who Stereotype “These Professors”

 

Exodus 20:16

 

These professors

 

Dr. Moriarty was a PFC on certain Pacific islands

          Who could bayonet an enemy

          Clear a jammed machine gun under fire

          See his pals blown to pieces next to him

          And work out subtle textual analyses

 

These professors

 

Dr. Chambers was a retired colonel of Marines

          A natty little man in blazer and bowtie

          Who could bayonet an enemy

          See his pals blown to pieces next to him

          Deconstruct the minutiae of energy distribution

          And toss a foul-mouthed football player out on his sorry ass

 

These professors

 

Dr. Dale was a butcher until his thirties

When he entered college for the first time

          He knew your hamburger from the outside in

          The economics of building a business

          He probably could have bench-pressed a Ford Fiesta

          And when he spoke of Wordsworth, Keats, and Coleridge

          You could feel the air of The Lake Country

 

These professors

         

“These professors” were complete men

Strong in war and word and wisdom and work

Unlike envious Unferths who learn life only second-hand

          From Fox News and John Wayne movies

          And closed loops of echoing InterGossip sites

Beowulf Visits the Dentist - a bit of fun, maybe a bite of fun

 

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Beowulf Visits the Dentist

Arise from the nitrous oxide

From the somnolence, dreams, and pain

With forge-hammered teeth

And then go out

Go out and bite something

 

 

(Trying for the Anglo-Saxon four-beat line)

Is That IPhone Surgically Attached to You? - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

 

“Is That IPhone Surgically Attached to you?”

 

 

“Is that thing surgically attached to you?” the teacher sighed.

 

“You can’t talk to me like that!” the MePhone replied.

Ford vs Chevy - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Ford vs Chevy

 

In an era where everything was either Ford or Chevy

I was an MG roadster

Unreliable

But lots of fun

Their Ephemeral Temples Look Much the Same - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Their Ephemeral Temples Look Much the Same

 

Their ephemeral temples look much the same

In a semi-circle the faithful sit or stand

And turn their eager faces to an altar flood-lit

To be magicked by their leaders and gods

 

They wave their arms in ecstasy and awe

As lantern-slides of flags and martyred heroes

Ripple as electronic waves beamed into their eyes

Commanding free obedience through spontaneous scripts

 

At dawn

 

Contractors will tear away the plywood and paint

Take down the plastic statues and columns

The recordings of programmed emotions

And heave them into the beds of rented trucks

 

Preaching or politics, or some other game:

Their ephemeral temples look much the same

How is Your Adventure So Far? - poem

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

How is Your Adventure So Far?

 

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

 

-Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day”

 

Even if you are looking up at an I.V. drip

Instead of green leaves and a summer sky

Your adventure is not nearly at an end

Not even in this life – and the next life, wow!

 

Your childhood joys have never slipped away

That cheesy 45 rpm that graced your first dance

Has not come to the end of its groovy grooves

You’ve still got the happiness, the moves

 

Your first job, boot camp, university

Riding a big red bus ‘round Piccadilly Circus

Drinking from your canteen on a mountain top

Your first kiss, that evening in Rome – there’s more to come!

 

Your first car is still parked in the driveway

Waiting to take you where you always meant to go

A Hurricane: Outer Bands and Inner Thoughts - haiku

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

A Hurricane: Outer Bands and Inner Thoughts

 

Sun gives way to clouds

Stillness to winds, birds circle

Searching for meaning